Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said he would continue a riverbank clearance and construction project in an attempt to eliminate flooding.

“We’ll carry on. I hope there’ll be no problem,” he said as reported by tempo.co on Monday.

The Rp 500 billion (US$35 million) for the project allocated to the Jakarta Water Resource Agency were revealed in the city’s 2019 budget priorities (KUA-PPAS).

The funds are to be used for, among other things, clearing the land along riverbanks and installing sheet piles, as well as revitalizating of 14 flood control facilities such as reservoirs and lakes.

The clearance and construction project along the Ciliwung River has been stopped since 2017.

The agency’s head, Teguh Hendrawan, said that the Ciliwung River project was delayed because of disputes over land clearance. The city is obligated to relocate the evictees to rusunawa (low-cost apartments) and compensate them for their financial losses.

Teguh also said the 2018 city budget had allocated money for clearing land in several areas. Rp 400 billion is to be spent on reservoirs and Rp 900 billion on rivers. The agency was slated to receive another Rp 450 billion for land clearance in the revised 2018 budget. (vla)